Improvement in refrigerator-cars



E. E. HARGREAVES.

REFRIGERATOR CAR;

No. 174,812 Patented. March 14, 1876 'NI'IED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD E. HARGREAVES, OF SARNIA, CANADA.

IMPROVEMENT IN REFRIGERATOR-CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 174,812, dated March14, 1876; application filed February 21, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD E. HAR- GREAVES, of Sarnia, in the county ofLambton and Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented an Improvement inRefrigerator- Gars, of which the following is a specification:

The nature of my invention relates to an improvement in cars designedfor the transportation of meats, fresh fruits, and other perishablearticles; and its object is to preserve in afresh state the, contents ofsuch a car in transit, by removing the'warm and vitiated air in the carthrough the instrumentalityof an exhaust-fan, to make room for an equalvolume of fresh air flowing between refrigerating partitions at each endof the car, which reduce the temperature of the influent currents.

To this end the invention consists in a pair of narrow sheet-metalreceptacles for. ice or other refrigerating material, bpilt or. placedacross each end of the car, parallel with each' other and closetogether,'with an opening cut in each side of the car to admit a currentof air which must pass between the receptacles, to be thereby lowered intemperature before passing out at the top into the body of the car, and,in combination therewith, an exhaust-fan located underneaththe car,driven by a single belt from a pulley on one of the adjacent axles,which fan is arranged to operate equally well when rotated in eitherdirec tion, for exhausting the air from the interiorof the car through atube rising into the up perpart thereof. I

Figure 1 is a bottom perspective view of my car. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal vertical section of the same at w m in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is ahorizontal section at y 51 of Fig. 2. I

In the drawing, A represents the body of the car, under which is locatedan exhaustfan, B, adapted to operate equally well when driven in eitherdirection. and is driven by a single belt, 0, from a pulley on one ofthe adjacent axlesl The fan withdraws the air from the car through apipe, D, rising through the center of the car nearly to. the roof. Theupper part of the pipe is perforated with apertures forthe exit of air,the intention being to take out of the car. the warm and vitiatedatmosphere charged with gases emanating from the-contents of thecar. Ateach end of the car, and across the same, two deep but narrowreceptacles, E, of sheet metal are tween the receptacles, which shouldbe filled with refrigerating material, enter the body of the car muchreduced in temperature, and

naturally settle in the lower part of said car, displacing an equalvolume of air, which rises to the upper part, where it is drawn down andout through the pipe D by the exhaust-fan. The displaced air carrieswith it the gaseous emanations from the articles stored in the car,which emanations, it kept in contact therewith, would soon producedecomposition and putrefactive decay. The articles in the car being alsokept at a low temperature, the evolution of gases will be much retarded,and the progress of decay arrested. p

The pipe D is made removable at the level of the floor, so as not to bein the way when the-car is used for the transportation of ordinary ornon-perishable goods.

What I claim as my invention is The car A, having the receptacles E Ebuilt in pairs across each end, and with a slot, a, in each side, foradmitting a current of air between each pair of said receptacles, incombination with an exhaust-fan for withdrawing air from the interior ofthe car through the pipe D, substantially as described.

EDWARD E. HARGREAVES.

Witnesses:

H. F. EBERTS, H. S. SPRAGUE.

